South Lodge

Lovely stay and attentive staff. Very good spa facilities and breakfast. However there was an incident during our last night. The fire alarm went off (unknown why since there was no fire) in the middle of the night at 2 am and we had to evacuate our room. We were with our 2 year old daughter and with grandparents, and they could not fall back asleep after the incident. Given this is a 5 star hotel we would have expected a small discount or token of appreciation following this event which ruined our night, however none was given.

Hotel is in a nice location - with expansive grounds it has the potential of being a great destination hotel. The front desk service experience on check in was average and there was little / no help with luggage when we checked in. Rooms were big but the furniture was old and slightly mismatched. That said, room was well equipped - shower had good pressure and had all the usual amenities like iron etc. Other service staff were friendly and overall would consider this an “okay” stay - nothing out of the ordinary or wow for me.

We arrived on Fri 27th for one night to celebrate my husbands retirement along with three of his fellow Company Directors and their partners all staying the night a private dinning room was reserved … first impressions of the house were lovely reception staff were very nice tentative and professional sadly that’s where it possibly ended .. the room a suite at £615 per night was huge but sadly overlooking the car park it was a mismatched muddle of mixed curtains carpets seat upholstery and furniture in possibly the style of the 1930s resembling an auction house .. the bed was deliciously comfy and we loved the lamb do not disturb sign .. facilities were ok although we only found the hairdryer in the bottom of the wardrobe as we were packing up to leave we get the Green effect but would prefer little bottles of body wash shampoo etc not stone refillable bottles that we had to take into and balance on a tiny soap dish in the shower room .. after settling in we decided to sit outside and admire the fabulous view wine and a pot of tea were ordered wine came tea took 25 minutes I asked for a slice of the ‘cake of the day’ was told it was a piña colada cheesecake a desert not cake sorry no cake despite afternoon tea going on all around us … dinner private nice room was set up for about 10 people there were 8 of us booked we’d had to pre book our three course dinner which was a shame .. we had been outside having pre dinner drinks they kindly said they would bring them in for us all sadly whilst sitting the young man delivering said drinks accidentally tipped my whole “orange” Aperole Spritz down my especially purchased for the occasion cream outfit he was bless him mortified apologised I tried to be gracious put a brave face on it and headed to the ladies to try and sort it out it was an accident but I had to sit in a very damp outfit for the rest of the evening .. my grievance was no one came to speak to me or offered dry cleaning … dinner looked very nice bread was very tasty couldn’t find any asparagus in my starter but lots of peas !! lamb was delish but not very warm.. we slept well thanks to the room fan supplied … now breakfast time arrived .. the menu states your toast and pastries are on their way as you order well they did arrive but only after an hour and a half !! the whole breakfast scenario everything was cold yes we’re seated outside but it turned up cold porridge was watery the full cooked was missing three components.. smoothie and my eggs Benedict looked and tasted nice .. no consistency of service waiting staff were polite but forgetful slow and quite frankly getting fed up with the complaints from the majority of the tables long waits delivering large tea pots with one tiny teabag no cups and saucers toast delivered eventually after asking several times which turned up either not toasted at all and cold several attempts to have some butter and jams … the issues were endless resembling Faulty Towers which did lightened the mood somew